Abstract - The area of energy processing, which includes power electronics, electric drives and power systems, is at a crossroad. Its challenges are both external (contribution to climate change, nonfunctional markets) and internal (inability to integrate renewable sources and efficient loads). The promise of energy processing comes from a growing array of potentially transformative technologies that currently exist in power electronics, distributed sensing, and cyber-physical control systems. Other supporting technologies, such as battery storage and Internet of Things, stand at the cusp of advancement that could radically change the long-standing assumptions regarding feasible system architectures.